The Ministry of Education Strengthens Control to Prevent the Transfer of State Educational Institution Lands to Third Parties

The Ministry of Education and Science has strengthened control over the use of lands of educational institutions in compliance with a separate ruling of the Supreme Court.

In particular, in accordance with the separate ruling of the Supreme Court dated October 29, 2025, and the ruling on the application of procedural coercive measures dated May 25, 2026, in case No. 918/1181/24, the Ministry reported conducting an internal investigation into the reasons for non-compliance with the court decision within the established timeframe, applying disciplinary measures to officials, and taking a set of actions to prevent similar violations in the future.

The Ministry acknowledged the fact of violating the deadlines for informing the court. The investigation revealed that the responsible structural unit for preparing the response was the Department for State Property and Enterprises. The direct executor was identified as the chief specialist of the Property Relations Department, who was dismissed at the end of January 2026. However, the Ministry noted that this does not exempt the management of the unit from responsibility for inadequate control over the execution of the court decision.

In this regard, the State Secretary of the Ministry initiated disciplinary proceedings against the head of the respective department. The disciplinary commission was instructed to conduct the proceedings and provide proposals regarding the results of its consideration.

The Ministry also reported the voluntary payment of a fine amounting to 9,984 UAH, imposed by the court ruling as a procedural coercive measure.

Besides issues related to the enforcement of court decisions, the Ministry informed about response measures to circumstances established by the Supreme Court regarding the use of lands of the Agricultural Vocational College.

According to the Ministry, the college did not seek approval for a service agreement on land cultivation with the company, so the management body did not grant any consent for concluding such an agreement.

The Ministry noted that as early as 2022, it appealed to the State Property Fund of Ukraine to prevent the privatization of the college's property and violation of the integrity of the land plot measuring 78.5 hectares. After discovering agreements with the company concluded without the Ministry's approval, it appealed to the Office of the Prosecutor General regarding possible unlawful actions by the educational institution's officials.

The statement emphasizes that currently the Ministry does not approve joint activity agreements or other transactions that effectively imply the transfer of lands of state educational institutions to third parties, as such agreements contradict legal requirements.

In compliance with the Supreme Court's conclusions, the Ministry also reported the introduction of systemic preventive measures. In particular, anti-corruption control was strengthened, and all heads of subordinate educational institutions were sent clarifications regarding the procedure for using state-owned lands and the prohibition of concluding sham agreements that conceal land lease arrangements.

Additionally, similar clarifications were sent to the heads of regional state and military administrations. They stressed the inadmissibility of transferring lands of state educational institutions to third parties under the guise of civil law contracts.

To strengthen control over the use of state-owned lands, the Ministry created a centralized monitoring system in the form of a unified electronic database, into which educational institutions are required to enter up-to-date information regarding the use of land plots.

The Ministry also reported working on resolving the issue of financing land cultivation for vocational education institutions and preparing proposals to optimize the land banks of those institutions that cannot independently ensure their cultivation.

The Ministry informed about the formation of a detailed register of land use by educational institutions and the transfer of relevant information to the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Education, Science, and Innovation for parliamentary oversight.

With its statement, the Ministry requests to recognize the requirements of the separate Supreme Court ruling dated October 29, 2025, and the ruling dated May 25, 2026, as fully fulfilled.

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